TORONTO, March 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Providing Canadian investors with an innovative approach to tracking the performance of smaller-cap Canadian Stocks trading on TSX Venture Exchange, S&P Indices and TMX Group Inc., operator of Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange, launched today the S&P/TSX Venture 30 Index. The S&P/TSX Venture 30 Index seeks to measure the performance of 30 of the largest and most liquid securities included in the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index, a broad market indicator of Canadian micro-cap securities.

S&P Indices also announced today that it has licensed Global X Funds, the New York based provider of exchange traded funds, to launch an ETF based upon the S&P/TSX Venture 30 Index. The Global X Funds ETF is expected to launch on March 17, 2011 on the NYSE Arca.

"With the launch of this Index, investors will for the first time be able to track the performance of a segment of the Canadian stock market that features higher-yielding, more liquid, smaller-cap securities," says Abigail Etches, Director at S&P Indices. "We are certainly pleased that Global X Funds will use the S&P/TSX Venture 30 Index as the underlying index for its forthcoming ETF."

For more information about the S&P/TSX Venture 30 Index, please visit: www.standardandpoors.com/indices.

About S&P Indices

S&P Indices, the world's leading index provider, maintains a wide variety of investable and benchmark indices to meet an array of investor needs. Over $1.25 trillion is directly indexed to Standard & Poor's family of indices, which includes the S&P 500, the world's most followed stock market index, the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, the S&P Global BMI, an index with approximately 11,000 constituents, the S&P GSCI, the industry's most closely watched commodities index, and the S&P National AMT-Free Municipal Bond Index, the premier investable index for U.S. municipal bonds. For more information, please visit www.standardandpoors.com/indices.

About TMX Group (TSX-X)

TMX Group's key subsidiaries operate cash and derivative markets for multiple asset classes including equities, fixed income and energy. Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange, Montreal Exchange, Canadian Derivatives Clearing Corporation, Natural Gas Exchange, Boston Options Exchange (BOX), Shorcan, Shorcan Energy, Equicom and other TMX Group companies provide listing markets, trading markets, clearing facilities, data products and other services to the global financial community. TMX Group is headquartered in Toronto and operates offices across Canada (Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver), in key U.S. markets (Houston, Boston and Chicago) as well as in London. For more information about TMX Group, visit our website at www.tmx.com.

Standard & Poor's does not sponsor, endorse, sell or promote any S&P index-based investment product.  This document does not constitute an offer of services in jurisdictions where Standard & Poor's or its affiliates do not have the necessary licenses.  Standard & Poor's receives compensation in connection with licensing its indices to third parties. It is not possible to directly invest in an index.

SOURCE Standard & Poor's